Utah elects a state school board from districts. Those elections are non-partisan. A few years ago the law was changed to say those elections are “partisan”, but that law was not specific. Utah State Senator Ann Millner (R-Ogden), a supporter of partisan school board elections, has introduced SB 236, to reword the existing law in a more coherent fashion.

Meanwhile, the original law switching school board elections to non-partisan elections has been challenged as being unconstitutional. The case is pending in the Utah Supreme Court. The Utah Constitution says no employee of the public school system shall ever be treated differently because of that employee’s partisan affiliation. The challengers argue that provision makes partisan elections for school board unconstitutional. Defenders of partisan elections say the state constitution is referring to employees, not school board elected members.